Plants of the Gila Wilderness

Presented in Association with theWestern New Mexico University Department
of Natural Sciences

Grimmia laevigata (Bridel) Bridel

Family: Grimmiaceae

Status: Native

Synonyms:Grimmia glauca sensu G. Jones

Grimmia laevigata is generally a lower elevation moss in the Gila National Forest. It has shorter, more stocky leaves with a short but obvious decurrent base that mimics auricles. The costa at times disappears before becoming excurrent as an awn. The costa is thinner toward the apex than it is at the base, where it can be more than 8 guide cells wide. Eva Maier has shown that the middle two guide cells of the costa in the upper leaf are sunken in and have thickened adaxial cell walls. The lamina is one cell thick at the extreme base, but 2 cells thick above the base. The awn is more broadly based and decurrent along the margins of the lamina compared to G. ovalis, the other common Grimmia here possessing incurved margins. The alar cells are nearly quadrate and green in color. Grimmia laevigata grows in the open on acidic volcanic tuff outcroppings in drier areas in the Gila.
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